


A court of Truths and Lies

by orphan_account



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Brothers, Family Fluff, Gen, Kid!Patton, Kid!Roman, Kid!Thomas, a lot of time skips at first, for now, how does one tag? I do not know, kid!Logan, kid!virgil, probably will add tags as this goes on, they're all children, they're princes and wizards
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-07-29 18:08:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20086525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A magical land. A kingdom of peace and prosperity. Or is it?Follow the lives of five lively princes as they struggle with growing up, everyday life, magical outbursts and princely duties. Also, a possible enemy as they grow older.





	1. What is education good for anyway?

**Author's Note:**

> First time posting on AO3. So I'm a mess in terms of the tags and summaries and stuff but I tried. I swear the story is better!  
Mistakes may be present. English is really hard okay? It's not my first language, dyslexia doesn't help and I don't have anyone to beta this. So it's all self-checked only like a million times.  
Either way, Enjoy and do tell me what you thought of the first chapter.

For yet another tedious few hours, two young princes were stuck in a room with only each other and a pile of simple books as 'entertainment'. The room was filled with wondrous paintings that depicted scholars and philosophers of the old and new. They were hung upon pale cream walls in between numerous tapestries that showed glorious battles and treaties signed. The chamber was rather spacious, fitting numerous surfaces for different purposes, from alchemy to writing to cooking. Many things could be done in this room, at any time of day or year as it was warmed by a small fire lit in a heath opposite the entrance. Many things could be taught in this classroom within the palace walls.

That was exactly what the young princes were supposed to be doing at that moment. Learning. However, a seven-year-old and a six-year-old don't have the greatest attention spans when it comes to studying the basics of their world and the land they would one day have to rule. Two consecutive hours was simply too much without any breaks but their tutor expected them to sit and listen for another hour. Yet another long hour away from their younger three brothers who hadn't had the chance to discover the boredom that lessons brought at the time.

Thankfully, today was a bit different. Something or another came up and within seconds, their tutor was off to do some official business with the King that the two boys weren't too bothered about. What was on their minds though was how to escape the ever-watchful eyes of the guards outside the door to sneak off for a break. The second miracle of the day was the princes' mother arriving to check in on her older sons.

"Studying hard you two?" the woman asked with obvious amusement as she stepped through the doors only to find her sons huddled as far away from the books as possible, whispering to one another. The older boy was first to rise and run across the small distance to come to a stop just before he got tangled up in his mother's skirts. The younger of the two was not far behind. He barely managed to pause his movement to avoid causing a huge crash.

"Mom! Hi! How's your day, can you help us out of here please?" Thomas said, leaving no room for breathing in between the words. He was the older of the two, with a mop of chestnut hair and huge, glittering brown eyes. His mother and younger brother giggled at his quick words, identical eyes shining with laughter.

"Yeah Mommy, the books are really boring and I wanna play with Logan, Roman and baby Virgil!" exclaimed Patton with a bounce and a clap of his small hands. He was very similar looking to his older brother, the most obvious differences being a slightly lighter shade of hair that was much more curly, freckles that dotted the majority of his frame and round spectacles that were much too large for his face. All it did was make him look even more adorable and gave him a face that made adults find it difficult to tell him no.

"Oh, is that what you've been plotting over in the corner then?" the Queen asked with a slightly raised eyebrow to simply receive a nod from both boys. "I guess there is nothing else left for me to do but to aid my dear sons in an escape of epic proportions! After all, just a single hour of lessons missed won't make our kingdom fall, now will it?" she added with the tone of voice reserved especially for her children. Thomas and Patton both beamed with excitement and did a little victory dance that seemed too synchronized for it not to have been practised before.

The queen beckoned her sons to come with her as she exited the room, very dramatically and obviously faking a 'conversation' aimed at the boys to get back to their books. It's not like the princes were aware that their mother was basically announcing to the entirety of the surrounding guards that neither Thomas or Patton intended to return to their studies without their tutor there.

In no time at all, the two boys were sneaking through secret passages of the castle with Thomas in the lead. Patton would constantly look over his shoulder, promising his older brother that he wouldn't allow an attack from the back to surprise them or get them caught. Not that they would. As they did in any castle, news spread incredibly fast, so naturally, every member of the staff knew of the quest the princes were on. Frankly, no one even had the heart to stop the boys from trying to spend all the time they could with their siblings. That or they didn't dare anger the royals or their loyal support.

Thomas suddenly stopped within the dark passageway he was leading Patton through. The younger, having been looking over his shoulder into the dark when he did, so it took a good amount of hand waving to get them both to stay upright. Let's just say that if anyone saw the manoeuvres the boys performed, they would not be called graceful at all. Complete darkness enveloped them just as they finally stabilized, causing the younger boy to whimper and cling to his older brother.

"Sorry Pat, it's really hard to keep them up when I lose focus," Thomas whispered with a sheepish smile appearing on his face as the passageway was once again weakly illuminated by his magic. As far as they knew, all of their siblings had some sort of magical ability. So far, the kingdom knew that Thomas had the most control over his abilities. This was most likely due to him being the oldest and the fact he only inherited a small amount of magic from their mother. The middle child, Logan, seemed to have even more limited abilities while Patton had so far shown the most promise, even if he lacked control over his magic. However this could soon change as both of the youngest, Roman and Virgil, already responded to magic since their first few months of life. Their power just couldn't be determined yet as Roman was only three years old and Virgil still had a couple of weeks until his first full year of life.

"It's okay. Why'd you stop?" Patton asked in a quiet voice that was just a bit too loud to be a whisper. His head was slowly tilting to the left before it snapped straight once more and his eyes grew wide, "Is it the guards?! Did they find us?!" The younger boy panicked slightly. The last thing Patton wanted was to be dragged back to the study room instead of making it to their shared wing of the castle to play with the too young to study trio. Thomas immediately shook his head to stop the flood of oncoming questions from the six-year-old, they did not need to alert anyone of their whereabouts because Patton panicked about being found when they were still safe.

"Nah, we just made it as close as we can get through these passageways. We have to be in the mains corridors now which is more dangerous so we got to be really careful," Thomas whispered back the explanation, turning to lead the way once again. This time though, he grabbed hold of his younger brother's hand to make sure they don't accidentally separate. Just a few more hallways and they would reach the playroom where Logan, Roman and Virgil were bound to be with the nursemaid. She was nice and all five boys adored being around her almost as much as they loved to spend time with their parents.

After taking a huge breath and letting it out to calm his nerves, Thomas slowly and carefully pushed the hidden entrance door and peeked out into the corridors. Empty. That was perfect. Wasting no time, he pulled Patton along as they now almost ran across the corridor into another alcove to hide. The two brothers spent the next five minutes following this same exact tactic until they could finally see their destination.

As always, the doors were closed but not bolted shut. Roman was too adventurous for it to be left wide open. A three-year-old as energetic as he, should not be allowed out of sight or the next thing they know is they'll be following the wails of a hurt toddler. Thankfully, he had yet to work out exactly how the handles work. Roman was too preoccupied with more important imaginative adventures within his designated areas to bother with something as insignificant as learning to open the doors on his own. Logan was responsible enough for them not to be locked while Virgil was too little to even want to leave a space he knows well and feels safe in. Well, it all was an advantage to Thomas and Patton.

The oldest sons looked at each other with victorious grins before dashing across the corridor one last time and slipping into the room with a loud bang of the door as they slammed it behind them. The room was plunged into unusual silence save for the laborious breaths of the boys still pressed to the door. Somehow, even Roman was shocked into silence upon seeing his two biggest brothers come in unannounced and alone. Even he could understand that perhaps what the two did wasn't exactly within their set of rules. The silence, of course, didn't last though. Thomas and Patton were both thrown into victorious giggling fits, soon joined in by an excitable Roman who was just glad he had more people to rope into his game of pretend. Logan was making nondescript noises that could be to convey his disappointment in his older brothers or his surprise to see them back so early. Not many people were well versed in Logan's unspoken communication that rarely happened now that he was able to read. Now he used way too many words to spout random facts he read about, though he still struggled to verbally express emotion.

In no time at all the room changed to accommodate all princes and their activities. Thomas joined Roman in his game of pretend, both of them having a love for dramatics in any form. They were both young knights, off on a quest to slay the dragon witch and save the beautiful prince trapped in a tower that the dragon guarded. Or at least that what Thomas thought. When it came to the actual battle with the dragon witch, Roman exclaimed that it was actually a cursed Prince turned dragon that needed saving rather than some fragile prince in distress. Patton was switching between talking to Logan and messing with Virgil, sometimes doing both at the same time. The conversations were mostly Logan asking his older brother about his studies, why and how they escaped the responsibility and just general questions about the world that Patton couldn't yet answer himself. The older boy would simply answer to the best of his ability in between cooing at their youngest brother as he did a particularly adorable thing with Patton's hand. Many times did the second born had to save his hand from becoming food or something to chew on for the baby, no matter how reluctantly as Virgil looked oh so adorable as he tried to devour his older brother. When he wasn't being eaten, Patton would try to make Virgil giggle. Be it by messing with the small tuft of hair or light tickles accompanied by more cooing over the cuteness of his baby brother.

Hours passed like this, the boys just enjoying each others company and playing many games. At one point, Thomas with the help of Roman's inescapable toddler charm roped all of them into a game of pretend imagined by him for once. Even little Virgil had a role to play, even if it was minor. If the brothers were playing together, no brother was left behind. No matter how small or large. It was during this game that their mother arrived and soon after, their exhausted father. The King loved all his sons dearly, so even if he spent hours in a meeting, fighting tooth and nail to secure the best trading deals for his people, he would at least try to spend some time with his family.

So they did. Thomas and Logan ran off to the library to grab a book for them all to read together. Patton snuck out to the kitchen to grab some snacks and Roman, with the help of their mother, arranged a very comfortable blanket and pillow, open-roofed fort as he called it. When everyone was settled in their places, huddled around the book held by the Queen, they read the story together. Their parents were in the middle, Thomas leaning into the side of his father and Patton leaning into their mother. Logan was sat on the laps of both his parent, somehow comfortable balancing there. Roman draped himself over their father and Virgil was somewhere between laying on their mother and Patton. Well, saying they read the story together meant that the Queen read it aloud to her children and husband. She read it until the last pair of eyes were tightly shut aside from her own. But once she put the book down, careful not to wake anyone, she joined her boys in a peaceful sleep.


	2. Accidents Happen, be it big or small ones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short chapter but the first few are just fluff or world-building so they're not too relevant to understand the main plot which will start somewhere around chapter 4. Until then, short chapters because why not.

At the tender age of four-years-old, there isn’t much a child could possibly do. With that in mind, some children are more capable at that age than others but even that is dependent on the situation. One thing the youngest prince was aware of was the fact that he was just a bit more mature than the second youngest was at his age. Because of this fact, as it was a fact to the entirety of the staff, Virgil was not contained to a few select rooms like Roman was two years ago when he was four. In fact, Roman still was barely trusted to not go and do something reckless at age six. Virgil was simply too cautious because of his own overthinking so he usually stuck to calm tasks like reading or drawing. The young boy also wished he could begin his music lessons but that had to wait another three months because his mother did not want him to immediately jump at the chance to study so soon after turning four. One child that decided to dedicate their lives to books and books alone with only a little family time was enough. Especially when Logan still technically used his incredible logic during family time. Not that anyone minded that, it was just to keep what little childhood Virgil had left since he wouldn’t have much of that once his lessons began. 

As the youngest, the prince was always... sheltered. Be it his older brothers, nursemaids or his parents, Virgil would always have people worry over him seemingly just because he was the youngest. It irritated the little boy to no end when people would hover and fuss over him even more than he can remember them hover over any of his older brothers, even Roman, who loved all the attention he would get, wasn’t the focus of so many worries. From his point of view, Logan has it the easiest in that field since he is the literal middle child, he didn’t have as many expectations as Thomas and Patton as the crowned prince and second born child nor did he have to endure the dotting over the two youngest. He was simply allowed to do as he wished with the least consequences to suffer.

However, when Virgil did ask his eldest brother, Thomas, about why exactly they’re all so overprotective he would avoid answering. That was until Virgil somehow managed to corner a crowned prince six years older than him. No one was sure how he did it but it probably involved puppy eyes that Patton taught him to use. They were almost as effective as Patton’s when they came from Virgil. What the four-year-old learned that day was that he was not as healthy as he liked to believe. From the beginning of his life, people worried if he would live. The pregnancy was by no means easy for their mother which resulted in Virgil being born a few weeks before he was supposed to. Thomas and Patton remember the period of worry the King and Queen went through when it was unclear if the little newborn would make it. Even when he did, illnesses followed Virgil throughout his life, however short it was so far. After that, he wasn’t too bothered by the fussing anymore. He could understand the reasoning, as much as a four-year-old could understand the concept of life and death. He knew it brought pain and that pain was bad.

Today, Virgil found himself wandering the castle in boredom. He didn’t feel like reading and his pencil was too blunt to continue to draw with. He couldn’t sharpen it himself and asking the nursemaid felt too awkward, she was no young woman and sharpening took quite a lot of strength. The least he could do for the third adult that raised him was to not force her to do difficult tasks just because he wanted to do one thing at that exact moment. So he told her that he will explore the castle and that the guards will be enough eyes over him, therefore, she should take a little break. Of course, he had no idea where he could possibly go to make sure he won’t find something he wasn’t supposed to know about. That resulted in the young prince exploring the castle grounds.

There were many sounds he could hear. Ranging from the quiet rustling of the leaves in the wind to the loud noises which source could only be Roman. In all honesty, Virgil had no idea why Roman would be outside. Didn’t all of his older brothers have classes? None of the older older brothers was ever taught outside. Then again, there were very few classes that they all had in common. Their parents ensured that they all would be needed for the kingdom in their own ways, though, Virgil had yet to find out the roles they could be playing. The King did tell him though that they chose to educate them in certain fields based on their interests and strength so it was more of a guidance than a set plan. They could all help however they wanted. Well, except for Thomas, he would one day be king regardless if that was what he wished. Thankfully, the current monarch wanted to ensure his firstborn son did feel prepared and comfortable to take that position in the future. As did all the rest of his children.

Regardless of why Roman was outside, Virgil decided he would follow the noise to see at least a little bit of what his brother was doing. What he was doing though, was something stupid and reckless that he definitely wasn’t supposed to be doing because the person who seemed to be the tutor was off to the side, deep in conversation with one of the knights. And what exactly was Roman doing? Well, he was climbing a tree that was much too high for him to climb. At least that was Virgil’s opinion on the matter, Roman later said the tree wasn’t that tall at all. Virgil was just too small so he saw it as bigger than it was. Regardless of the size, climbing trees was dangerous for six-year-olds.

Before Virgil was even able to run up to the adults to inform them of how much of an idiot his big brother was being, said big brother lost his footing and fell. For years after that day, Roman would deny how scared his scream sounded, claiming that it was a much lower-pitched and shorter sound than everyone else described it as. But no one would ever say that the time didn’t slow as they witnessed the six-year-old prince plummet headfirst from a branch ten feet above the dry, hard ground. The landing would hurt and injure him. Except it never did happen. Roman never reached the ground headfirst in a flash. Around two feet before the ground, he simply froze mid-air.

At first, the adults all thought that it was his own magic that protected him. After all, Roman had more magical abilities than any of his older brothers. However, the red glow in his eyes that accompanied the use of his magic was not there. Roman’s eyes remained just as brown as always. Then it struck them as to what stopped the prince’s fall as he himself uttered a single name in disbelief.

“Virgil..?”

Sure enough, there stood the youngest prince, his breathing completely irregular as he barely managed to stand on his own two feet. His eyes were dazed and filled with unshed tears, looking somewhere in the direction of his older brother. The thing that confirmed their theory was the purple glow, not only replacing his usual warm brown eyes but also surrounding his entire frame just before his entire world tipped and turned dark with just the sound of his older brother screaming his name before nothing else could be heard.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a lot of the story outlined already, but I am also a huge procrastinator and tend to abandon things without proper motivation. I am being clear about that from the beginning. I do want to continue this and I do hope to finish it. Comments on what you think will really encourage my creative thinking into actually working so... please comment?  
Once more, hope you enjoyed this fluff-filled chapter! Until the next one! Hopefully. I'll try my best, I promise.


End file.
